


The Clock Strikes

by thedeviltohisangel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M, Lightsabers, Planets, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2020-05-31 13:29:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19426924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedeviltohisangel/pseuds/thedeviltohisangel
Summary: Kylo Ren is forced into a marriage with a woman he knows nothing about. The more he learns, the more questions arise.





	1. It Doesn't Matter If You Love Him

**Author's Note:**

> one shot series of Kylo and his wife!

It wasn’t unusual for him to wake up without Tessala beside him. In fact, it was normal. Normally, she never even went to bed beside him. But last night she had. Last night had been different. Dare he say it. Say that it felt good.

Kylo had not felt good in a long time.

But his moment of good was fleeting as he began to wonder why she was no longer in bed with him. It had been months since she had been wed to him at the request of the Supreme Leader. Kylo had accepted that she would tolerate him at best. That seemed to be what everyone did. If that. He had promised himself he would return her feelings in kind. There was no way either of them could survive this union if actual emotions and feelings got involved. She was a princess from a wealthy planet with a large army and he was a powerful servant for an even more powerful lord. They had each been left little choice in the matter.

Last night she had been sad. She had been angry. There had been a fire inside of her and he was ashamed to admit that he had been drawn to it. The edge of self-destruction that lived within him was enamored by the sweet death her soul offered him.

He had told her that the stories of love and soulmates and happiness her caretakers had told her as a young girl were silly. That they were setting her up for disappointment. That he wished, for her sake, they hadn’t. That they told her the truth of the world. That monsters didn’t just lurk in the dark but in the light too. Monsters like him.

And for some reason it was his admittance that he viewed himself as a monster that made her stop. Her chest stopped heaving and her face went from anger to confusion to the softest thing he had seen since he last saw his mother. 

_ “You are scarred. It is not a sign of damage or monstrosity. It’s a sign of resilience.” _ Of course Tessala hated him even though the marriage and living arrangements were against his will as well. The Supreme Leader had been the only one to blatantly tell Kylo his worth. The young man had needed that so badly. So he went where he was able to find it. 

Kylo lifelessly pulled on his black robes, attached his saber to his belt and tucked his helmet under his arm. This was how his mornings always went. No sign of his wife. He had gotten used to it. Found comfort in it. And now that he knew there could be a different way, it felt unbalanced. Unfulfilling. Empty. It was a dangerous place for him to be.

“Good morning.” It was almost a whisper but not quite. It was a peep. Tessala was unsure of the words coming out of her mouth even though they were so incredibly simple. 

“Good morning.” He stopped in his tracks to look at her. She was in a light pink robe placing food onto the table.

“I was hoping you could sit and eat with me today but if you have things to do…” She now realized how silly her hope had been. How stupid she must sound to her husband. She should have just let things be. Let last night lie as the fluke that it was.

“I can stay for a little while.” Her smile almost made him crack his own, almost, before he placed his helmet down and walked to sit at the head of the table.

\----

“I am taking a trip to Auturn today.” She paused her eating to look at him but he kept his head down towards his plate. It was rare that he share his plans with her. It wasn’t too long ago that she had she spent almost a month alone in their quarters thinking he was dead and she meant too little to have the news shared with her.

“I hear they have a wonderfully beautiful marketplace this time of year,” she mumbled as she pushed her food around her plate. Tessala had been to the famous marketplace of Auturn once before with her mother. It had been a magical day filled with sights and smells and fabrics and trinkets that she had never experienced. There was a pain in her chest she could never explain at the notion that she would most likely never experience it again.

“Maybe...maybe a trooper could accompany you there while I attend to business. The ship is headed in that direction anyways.”

“I would be very thankful.” She willed back the tears of joy and happiness that wished to escape from her eyes. Perhaps it would be easier to survive than she had originally thought.

\----

Kylo kept ten paces between the two of them as they marched through the center of town with their security detail in tow. He had instructed her to ditch the cream-colored-ruffled gown she had chosen for the day, though he was positive she would have been absolutely breathtaking in it, for all black and a hood that could cover her face. He didn’t need her turning into a liability during this outing.

“You stay within this vicinity. I will be back shortly.” Tessala wasn’t used to the distorted voice that replaced his as he spoke through the mask. She nodded her understanding and watched as a quarter of the troopers marched off with him. It was certainly true that his skills with a lightsaber and the Force meant he required less protection but she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. No longer did she wish to be in the role of the meek damsel in distress or the wife who sat at home just longingly waiting for her husband to return and task her with something to do. Maybe, with their newfound rapport, this was a topic she could broach with him. Ask him for more responsibility. Ask him for more knowledge on the role she was kidnapped to play in all this. And maybe she would then one day have to courage to talk to him about children.

The troopers made for poor company as she smelled every plant and powder and liquid that was on display with the vendors. Every time she smiled, she thought of the First Order and what their plans might be for this planet. Something so beautiful shouldn’t be snuffed out by the stiff men in suits that walked about her new home.

“Someone as fair as you certainly is not from Auturn.” Tessala looked up from the piece of jewelry she had been admiring to see a peculiar man looking at her. Not looking. Assessing. As if he was wondering what price she would fetch at this very market. Even if his eyes weren’t glowing red, she’d be scared.

“Excuse me.” She took one step passed him when his hand snapped out to grab her arm, the troopers raising their guns immediately but were taken down by the men who emerged from behind their stalls with their own weapons.

“There is a rumor going around that Ren purchased a new toy. Could that be you, my fair lady?”

“I am no one’s toy,” she said with a spit to his face. That earned her a tight grip around her jaw and his sneer turning sinister.

“Let’s test out his commitment to his purchase.” Tessala expected to be dragged somewhere. Maybe to wherever Kylo was so her captors could taunt him. Maybe to their base of operations should they could plot what to do next. When she had considered the hazards of the marriage proposal she was entering into, being kidnapped and used as a bargaining chip had not been one her mind had come up with. What a mistake that had been.

“I promise you that I mean nothing to him.” She thinks it was true. Even though it hurt. It was never a good feeling to believe you were worthless to someone. Particularly when that someone was your husband.

“Your womb is what really means something to him. Maybe that is what we should take first.” He produced a knife and angled it so it pointed just below her belly button. She squared her shoulders and searched for inner peace. There was no way she would let these men think they had succeeded in scaring her. Too much had been taken from her recently. It was her turn to claim something. She claimed herself.

“I wouldn’t recommend that.” It was hard to tell if there was any emotion behind his voice as it came out through the mask. Perhaps that would work in their favor for this situation. He wouldn’t give away to the men, or to her, if she actually did mean something to him.

“So glad you could join us, Ren. Now tell your men to lay down their weapons and you dispose of that saber and the Princess will not be hurt.” Tessala couldn’t tell but Kylo was looking at her behind his mask. He was trying to read her face. To see if she was in any real pain or discomfort. That would drastically change how he planned to carve up these men. He answered the man’s statement by igniting his saber and throwing it towards the armed combattants. The troopers behind him began to fire their blasters, Tessala pushing forward as her captors grip loosened in a moment of distraction.

“Get down!” She dropped as Kylo’s lightsaber flew above her head, back into his hands, and he began to deflect shots from the men in front of him. “Get behind me.” Keeping low to the ground, she quickly made her way behind her husband who was now slowly marching forward as each deflected shot found a new target.

“The bounty on her head is too much for me to give up without a fight!” The man who originally grabbed her, who presumably was the leader of the group, jumped towards Kylo from the side as he had turned to give orders to the troopers. Rarely caught off guard, he was in this moment and Kylo fell to the ground in a flurry of robes. Tessala watched in horror as his helmet and lightsaber skidded away. “I’ll keep you alive, Ren, long enough to watch me-” The smell of burning flesh reached Kylo before his eyes registered the sight before him.

His own lightsaber had been pierced through the man’s chest. He rolled to the side as the body fell forward and his wife stood there cast in a red glow.

“I don’t know how I…I just grabbed it and it…” Kylo approached her like he would a startled creature in the woods.

“Tessala, let me see it.” He took the leather glove off his hand in the hopes his bare skin would look less threatening to her. She looked down at the metal grip in her hand, the powerful weapon still burning brightly in her hands. Slowly, she closed the gap between their hands and placed the lightsaber into his palm. He clicked it off before gathering her into his arms and holding her against his chest.

“Kylo.”

“It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“What do we do now?” He didn’t know.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was then as if the Force was showing him what they could be capable of together. A throne. Two crowns. A galaxy. All theirs. He just had to say yes.

Kylo was beginning to regret how joyful he had once been over his strengthening relationship with his wife. It had emboldened her. There had been rumors around the ship that the Princess the Supreme Leader had chosen for his disciple was a force to be reckoned with. That many noble men had tried to take her hand in marriage on her home planet and all of them had failed. He had pushed them all out of his mind. There was no need for him to fret because he wasn’t going to bother to try and get to know her that deeply. There union was for political and powerful reasons only. But after she started to make his chest bloom and after she used his lightsaber to save his life on Auturn, he started thinking about those rumors again.

“Kylo?” It was dark in their quarters save for the faint starlight that trickled in. Looking at them helped lull her to sleep. He always stayed up after she did so he could shut the blinds before drifting off on his own.

“I’m still up,” he whispered back. Her head was tucked under his chin, his fingers playing with the edges of her hair. During the day he wasn’t allowed to touch it. Tessala always had it in these intricate styles with adornments weaved throughout. But at night he had free reign to explore her. At night he got to hold her. At night she kissed his chest in her sleep. At night they talked. Kylo thought the power of the dark side was liberation. That was nothing compared to this.

“I’d like to start travelling with you more.”

“No.” It was a short, simple and obvious answer. Clearly she was a target for his enemies. That meant she must be kept where she was safe and sound on board the Finalizer.

“Not even as your diplomatic companion?” She knew before she even met him that Kylo Ren was not known for his verbal negotiation style. He was all brash actions and rough emotions and embers left in his wake. As a Princess, she had been raised in the way of political banter. She quite enjoyed using her tongue as a weapon during her sessions with counsel and at the occasional meeting her parents would let her sit in on. The men who had tried to use her as leverage against her husband had said her womb was all that truly mattered to him. Tessala wanted to prove she could be useful for more than just procreation.

“The First Order does not deal in diplomacy. We deal in military might and victory.”

“Diplomacy is what brought me to you.” She wasn’t above using her feminine wiles. Another negotiation technique that had been used to enriched her arsenal in lessons as a child. But she always truly meant her words. Originally she had spit in the face of every person who had sold her to the men who wore masks and invaded villages across the galaxy. But once she was able to see under her husband’s mask, she learned he was just like any other boy or man she had ever met. Confused. Lost. Guided by those much more powerful and thus completely under their hands. Kylo Ren was not his own man.

“It is. A serendipitous fluke.” A teasing smile spread across his face and she couldn’t help but match it. They had used to be such rare sights but now she was delighted by their increased frequency. “I won’t have you in harms way again. Not when I can control it.” 

“You don’t think that was just a fluke?” He shook his head.

“The First Order’s enemies are fearless in their attempts to thwart us. I am hoping what happened to those men serves as warning enough but in case it doesn’t…” Being caged hurt her more now than it had when they were first married. Then, she knew nothing different and had become nearly compliant to her life on the ship. She had a list of things she would accomplish between her rests and it was enough to make the time go by numbly. But now that she had had the thrill of a true life besides Kylo, she wanted it more than anything.

“We never properly talked about what happened that day.” 

“Because it’s best we both forget it ever happened.” Her wielding of his lightsaber meant too much to ever be explored. It was dangerous for her to actualize whatever natural ability was inside of her. It made Kylo realize it was no coincidence she was the prize chosen for him by the Supreme Leader. There was a grand plan and he had an inkling it didn’t end happily for either of them.

“I can’t forget. It is like it awakened something inside of me. Something I was born with but never realized until that moment. Something powerful. Something that tethers me to the fate of the entire galaxy.” Tessala was beginning to work herself up. As if speaking of the power inside of her was also making it grow. Kylo could feel it, palpable in the air. Humming around him like a ship did before it entered hyperspace.

“Then don’t push it away. Feel it. Center yourself within it. Control it.” Rejecting the Force could harm her. Rejecting Snoke could harm both of them. She closed her eyes and tried to pinpoint the source of what she was feeling. “It’s all around you, Tessala. You shouldn’t have to reach far.” The more she focused, the more it felt like Kylo wasn’t speaking out loud. Like he was whispering in her mind. Whispering into the air around her and letting it be carried to her ears.

“I can feel you,” she whispered, “not the physical you. But your essence. Your power.”

“Good,” he whispered back as he pushed more of himself towards her.

“I feel...I feel...conflict. Darkness and light. A war, larger than the one outside, within you. I feel-”

“That’s enough for tonight.” He pulled back from her abruptly, catching her as she fell forward. “We can work on it more tomorrow.” She nodded.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I just went where it wanted me to go.” The Force wanted her to learn about the war waging inside of Kylo Ren. About the violent tugging and pulling of his soul to give himself completely to one side and the ultimate conclusion that he was unable to.

“Getting too close will only end one way. It’s better we go back to the distance we had before.”

“I am unable to do that. Don’t be so dramatic.” She fell back down onto her pillow. “I think the best thing is for you to teach me. Teach me how to control and how to use it.”

“No.”

“No?”

“That is exactly what he wants,” he fumed as he threw the blanket off his legs and paced to the back of their room.

“Who is he? Snoke?” She watched with concern as the anger around him grew.

“He doesn’t do anything without a purpose. He knew you had the Force inside of you which is why he brought you here. Brought us together.” Tessala took that as confirmation for her guess.

“And if he’s involved, it’s inherently not beneficial to us,” she whispered. Snoke was an iron grip. There was no freedom under him. With Kylo, she had found her opening. She couldn’t live under the monster that controlled her husband. “All the more reason for you to train me. It’s what he wants but what I do with it, what we do with the outcome, doesn’t have to be what he wants.” Closing the gap between them, she cradled his face in her palms.

“He will know. Somehow he will.” Kylo sounded broken. She hated it.

“Not if we believe we are playing into his hand. Doing this for him. We are stronger together. Can’t you feel it?” He could. The sparks of power were all around them.

“Yes.”

“So seize it. And help me to be able to do so as well.” It was then as if the Force was showing him what they could be capable of together. A throne. Two crowns. A galaxy. All theirs. He just had to say yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what else you would like to see from these two!

**Author's Note:**

> send any requests for these two my way!


End file.
